Neck Lift

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Sometimes a character needs to demonstrate their strength by making some poor schmuck feel helpless. The standard method of demonstrating Super Strength is to grab the victim by the neck with one hand and pick him up. If you want to maintain a slight atmosphere of plausibility, you can then slam him up against a wall. To be truly badass, however, you should simply hold him in mid-air. You may even decide to shake them a little bit.

This is a popular Charles Atlas Superpower, as a necklift is almost impossible in real life. There is no formal world record for the one-armed bicep curl, but there are two filmed "world records" of 135 pounds (61 kg), both of which were done by angling the lifter's body under the weight and lifting with the back. No one could lift someone their own size into the air with one arm.

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It also ignores the fact that in real life, a neck lift victim would need a neck as strong as the lifter's arm in order to prevent a more fatal outcome than simply being picked up in the air. A hand strong enough to keep the required grab on the neck while doing the lift of the entire body would probably also crush the delicate human throat in the process.

May or may not come directly before a Neck Snap — typically, though, a Neck Lift is a way to show that you're serious about this and won't take any bull. Usually a case of Artistic License  Physics if a human-sized lifter doesn't even lean back to counterbalance the weight they're holding up. This trope principally runs on Rule of Cool, though, to make the lifter look like one hell of a badass and for general spectacle, so physics schmysics. Even more so if they're performing this trick via telekinesis, resulting in the Psychic Strangle.

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For added effect, there can be a shot, image, or description revealing just how high the attacker can lift the victim's feet from the ground.

Grimmjow does this to Orihime twice. First after he rescues her from death at the hands of Loly and Menoly. Later, during his and Ichigo's fight as she questions him.

Ulquiorra inflicts this on Ichigo twice. First while he's beating him up while in his first Resurrección form, and again while in his Segunda Etapa form, choking Ichigo with his tail before blowing a hole through his chest.

In anime episode #314 the hollow in Haruko's body does a two-handed version to Kon (who's in Ichigo's body). Kon escapes by kicking Haruko's body in the stomach.

Anime episode #321. Yumichika's reigei grabs him by the neck and lifts him up and presses him against a tree while taunting him.

Later in the Thousand-Year-Blood-War-Arc, Yhwach does this to Zaraki Kenpachi of all people, which is quite a feat given that the latter is over two meters tall. Of course, this being Yhwach, he only does it after he's thoroughly curbstompedKenpachi.

A slight variant of this shows up in the original Blood: The Last Vampire short film — vampire protagonist Saya has a habit of grabbing those that piss her off by the mouth.

Although he's not a villain by any means, Allen angrily does this to a broker in the first Reverse novel.

The first time Yamaki of Digimon Tamers really loses his composure, he does this to Henry while loudly blaming him for everything that's gone wrong. (For reference, Yamaki's an adult and Henry's ten years old.)

Majin Buu does this to its master Babidi, to keep him from talking and using the spell to seal him again before killing him off. It's kind of subverted, though: Babidi is the size of a small dog, probably not much more than the weight of a sack of rice.

#20 does this to Yamcha in order to impale him with extreme prejudice.

In the first Broly Movie, during his climactic fight with Goku. After Broly no-sells Goku's Kamehameha Wave fired at him from Point-Blank, he grabs Goku and holds him up by his head and resumes beating the crap out of him.

During his fight with Metal-Cooler, right before Vegeta comes and "rescues" Goku, Meta-Cooler has Goku in a Strangle-hold, clutching his neck and about to crush it.

In End of Evangelion, instrumentality and the Third Impact begins when an insane Shinji chokes Asuka and lifts her up with both hands.

In a rare heroic example, Kato does this to two Red Shirts (at the same time!) in Gantz to show off the power of the Gantz suit and convince them to wear theirs, thus increasing their chances of survival (not that it helps). This may count as more of a variant in that he grabs them by their shirt collars rather than by their necks proper.

A brainwashed Ginga does this to Subaru during their battle in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers. Subaru managed to escape and do an attempted counter, which earned her a one-handed slam into the ground.

A favorite move of Nagi (Negi's father), having done it against Fate during a Flash Back and when Albireo copied him in his match against Kaede during a tournament. Also a scene where the real Nagi used this on the last Mook Demon of an army he'd just torn through. He finished it in a Neck Snap.

Also, mercenary leader of the Black Hounds Alexander Zeystev (also known as Chiko-tan) did this to Nodoka while attempting to take her in; there was a tremendous bounty on her and her friend's capture (she became bait).

In a "heroic" and unarguably awesome example of this, Negi does this to Tsukuyomi in chapter 292, and judging by the look on Tsukuyomi's face, it seems Negi is dead serious and she knows it. Unusual for this trope, Tsukuyomi does try to slice off the arm doing the grabbing. It is less than effective.

Chapter 333. Lifemaker grabs Negi in a Neck Lift.

Takhata-sensei does a variant by holding Asuna and Ayaka up by their collars when they are causing a scene. It is Played for Laughs as they hold their skirts down so they don't ride up.

Before Sasuke goes off to Orochimaru, Naruto tries to stop him, and somewhere in the middle Sasuke lifts Naruto with just one hand. Despite having been badly beaten before being grabbed, Naruto was still able to force Sasuke's attack off target.

Pain's bodies did this to a few people during their attack on Konoha when trying to extract information from them on Naruto's whereabouts.

Heroic example comes from Sanji's introduction where after brutalizing Fullbody for wasting food, he dangles the Marine by the neck◊ Sanji even has Fullbody's blood on his hand when he drops him.

Zoro once gets caught in a Neck Lift by Miss Monday, a bodybuilder-like woman. His response is a Face Palm Of Doom. He also gets one from Arlong a few arcs prior. Arlong was going to kill him while holding him like this, but Zoro manages to distract him long enough for Luffy to rejoin the fight and switch places with him.

Crocodile holds Vivi off the edge of a building in one of these during the Alabasta arc while delivering a brutal Breaking Speech, and then drops her, intending for her to plummet to her death. Luckily, Luffy and Pell arriveJust in Time and save her.

The super-strong tiger warrior Lime to Ryōga in Ranma ½. Particularly horrifying since Ryōga has considerable superhuman strength and is Made of Iron himself, but Lime even more so. It ends with Lime crushing Ryōga's throat and almost bringing him to the point of death. But when Ryōga's Shishi Hokodan fills him with "heavy" depression ki, he becomes too heavy for even Lime to lift.

Saint Seiya. Ohko does this to Shiryu at the climax of their fight. Subverted in that Shiryu takes the opportunity to move his body like a pendulum, use the momentum to strike Ohko's arm with his knee and break it, freeing himself.

Sakura Wars (TV): A variant happens in the first episode. When Sakura is trying to apologize to Maria for accidentally ruining their stage production, Maria responds by bodily lifting her off the ground by the front of her kimono, coldly telling her to Get Out!, and then flinging her across the hallway.

Big Bad Nobunaga does this to the hero Date Masamune. Despite the fact that he is holding up a grown man with one hand, he makes it look painfully easy.

Happens to Masamune again in the second season and again by the Big Bad, though this time it looks a bit more convincing seeing as Hideyoshi is (at least) twice Masamune's size.

In Silent Möbius, Kiddy greets detective Ralph Baumers this way the first few times they meet. They wind up going out later.

In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, during Sonic's final fight with Metal, Metal has Sonic in a stranglehold ready to finish him off until Tails figures out how to cripple Metal with his own programming.

Tokyo Mew Mew. In one of the last couple of episodes of the anime's first season, Deep Blue grabbed Ichigo by the throat and lifted her into the air.

In the 8th episode of 07-Ghost Ayanami (in Mikage's body) does this to Teito.

Ginga Densetsu Weed: Since almost all of the majority of the cast are dogs, Hougen uses his teeth to grab one of Jerome's Alaskan malamute helpers by the throat and lift her up during the final battle.

In comics parlance, this is also known as a Byrne Hold, named after artist John Byrne who was unusually fond of using it on comic covers.

Red Sonja: There is a neat example in Amy Chus Red Sonja run. Transported to the modern day, the angry She-Devil storms into a Vegas casino. When a couple of huge bouncers try to take her in, she punches one out and then headbutts the other, next hoisting his 250lbs off the ground with one arm by the throat and demanding to know the whereabouts of his boss. Hes completely unable to break her grip with both hands and when shes done, she effortlessly tosses him aside, telling hom hes lucky she didnt have her sword. Strong evidence (no pun intended) that Red Sonja has superhuman strength, at least under Chu.

In Batman: Hush, Batman grabs Robin's collar and lifts him one handed to stop him from continuing to antagonize Catwoman. It's the first sign the fight is staged since Tim's collar and cape are detachable and Tim grabs Bruce's wrist instead of going for the release.

DuckTales: When King Fulla Cola manages to stop the battle between his people, the McDuck household, and the Beagle Boys in its tracks, Launchpad freezes in position holding one of the Beagle Boys off the ground by the neck.

X-Wing Series: Wedge Antilles does a version of this to Sate Pestage, grabbing him with both hands by the front of his robes and slamming him against a wall. Pestage has referred to a nonhuman Rogue as "animal filth". Wedge snapped.

In Supergirl #36 (first part of the Crucible arc), a stranger alien is testing Supergirl. After finding him she grabs her neck, she flies upwards and demands answers, hinting that it's a very long drop.

In the Songs of the Orphan Child arc of X-23's solo series, Mr. Sinister does this to Laura after she neatly dodges one of his energy blasts and plants all of her claws in his chest. It even ends in a Neck Snap, though thanks to her Healing Factor Laura gets better.

In Violine, this is Muller's favorite attack thanks to his metal claws.

Comic Strips

Once happens in What's New? with Phil and Dixie to a game-company flack, who's interrupted yet another attempt by the hosts to address the topic of Sex in D&D. One panel shows him being subjected to this trope; the next reveals that it's Dixie, rather than Phil, who's doing it.

Beetle Bailey. In the strip for December 15th 2012, Sergeant Snorkel and his dog Otto go to a restaurant. When the maitre'd says that they don't serve dogs, Sarge grabs him by the neck and lifts him into the air to change his mind.

In chapter 26 of Phantomdare1's Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs story, Tracks Of Light, Purple Eyes grabs the back of Summer's neck and lifts her up into the air, trying to get her partner, Ben, to fight him. It works. Later on in the chapter, Ben returns the favor.

Reality Is Fluid has this done in a mental conversation between Captain Kanril Eleya and an Undine psi master. The Undine grips her by the neck and varies the level of pressure depending on how angry it is, as a mental representation of Mind Rape.

Aen'rhien Vailiuri has Morgan lift a Kazon maje, who's taller than she is, clear off the floor. (She's Romulan so she's stronger than a human.) She then breaks his neck.

Prison Island Break: On multiple occasions Shadow the Hedgehog lifts people right off their feet, whether by the front of their shirt or by their neck, both with two hands and with one.

In The Last Daughter, Taylor does this Moord Nag after crushing his empire and later to Jack Slash after curbstomping his followers.

Blade Runner 2049. When K (AKA Joe) attacks Luv inside the sinking spinner (Flying Car), he grabs her by the neck and lifts her up in the air.

Films — Animation

Beauty and the Beast: The Beast holds Gaston over the edge of the roof after defeating him. Notable in that the laws of physics were maintained because even with his strength, the Beast holds onto a gargoyle to stay balanced, and the Beast is savvy enough to hold Gaston over the edge of the roof (making escape through jerking his head back a very bad idea - the Beast's hand is also large enough to all but encircle Gaston's neck, so he probably couldn't even if he tried). The Beast also has a far longer reach than Gaston so punching or kicking is also out of the question.

In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, Kara, as a Female Fury, does this to her cousin. Although he is reluctant to fight her, until she throws him out Darkseid's throne room.

In Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, the evil android Zygon does this twice (with one hand, no less!), first to strangle Orin's first Love Interest, then later to Orin himself (though this time, his victim escapes). In a subversion of this trope, though, kicking Zygon in the groin wouldn't have done much good anyway, since he's a fricking robot.

In Mulan, Shan Yu does this to an Imperial Red Shirt. Quite intimidating in this case because Shan Yu holds his sword to the poor sap's throat at the same time.

Mr. Incredible loses his temper and does this to his obnoxious boss at the insurance company, then throws him through several walls.

He does it again with Mirage. He's taken a few lessons from the bad guys, apparently.

Emperor Zurg neck-lifts "Buzz 2" in Toy Story 2. It helps that they're both made of light-weight plastic.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Judge Doom does it to Roger when he captures him in the bar. Doubles as Foreshadowing: how can this work, when Roger clearly has mass and Doom is too thin? Judge Doom finds it funny to Neck Lift poor Roger.

The Viking captain actually does this to his first mate after he refuses the first mate's warning that the Leviathan is about to destroy their ship during their search for Atlantis in a deleted opening for Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Aladdin. When the guards break into Aladdin's hideout and capture him, one of the guards does this to Aladdin.

CommanderVachir of Kung Fu Panda does this combined with Minion Maracas to Zeng during Tai Lung's escape from Chorh-Gom, to keep him from leaving and reporting his failure. Justified by the latter being a much-smaller goose, and unusual in that it's a good guy doing it to another good guy. (He's a bit Hot-Blooded.)

In Roadside Romeo, Guru does this to Romeo as well as Charlie Anna throughout the movie. For example, Guru lifts Romeo by the neck for not getting permission drinking the tap water.

Films — Live-Action

Michael Myers from the Halloween series does this to few unlucky souls right before killing them as he's unnaturally strong. Most notably in the first film when he lifts Bob before pinning him to wall with a knife.

In The Kiss, a homicidally angry Charles does this to Pierre after catching Pierre kissing Charles's wife.

In a cut scene of Daredevil, Kingpin does this to a guard implied to have squealed. This is a slightly more realistic example than normal, as the guard's back is against a wall, plus Michael Clarke Duncan does actually look like he would have the weight and strength to do it.

Darth Vader does this to Captain Antilles in the beginning of A New Hope, following it through by crushing the guy's windpipe and killing him, quickly establishing that he is not someone you want to mess with. Vader chokes Antilles one-handed and with seemingly minimal effort, and indeed lifts him a foot off the ground, continues to question him, then tosses his body across the room like a rag-doll. It's also plausible simply because Vader physically isn't a normal human but has been rebuilt as a cyborg with super-strength.

Darth Vader: Where are those transmissions you intercepted? WHAT have you DONE with those plans?

He also has a much more famous long-ranged Force-assisted version which appears to use even less effort and is in-universe referred to in such diverse terms as Force Choke and Virtual Garrote. In Rogue One, Vader neck-lifts a rebel soldier several feet off the ground using only the Force.

Vader's grandson Kylo Ren does something similar in The Force Awakens, though in this case he's a normal human, and uses the Force to pull an underling across the room by his throat into his hand to yell at him (though he isn't physically strong enough to do this without supernatural powers).

The Matrix: When Neo first wakes up from the Matrix in the gel pod, a Docbot happens along, grabs him up by the neck and removes the plug from the back of his neck.

The Matrix Reloaded: An agent picks up Trinity by the neck. In contrast to the usual way this trope is played, she continues to fight and kicks him repeatedly until she then gets slammed down onto the floor.

Nero's Dragon Ayel does this to Kirk in Star Trek (2009). Kirk uses this as an opportunity to take Ayel's weapon and do him in. (Justified, as Vulcans and Romulans are much stronger than humans.)

In Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Blaster does it to Max after Max tries to ignore Master's order for him to disarm the truck's booby-trap. And holds him there while Master chews him out and repeats the demand. When Max fails to be impressed, Master decides to have the town's electricity supply choked instead. EMBARGO ON! This trope has the added advantage of bringing Max up to Master's level so he can be properly harangued (Master is a dwarf who sits on the backof his huge bodyguard Blaster.) Becomes Played for Drama the next time they have a confrontation.

V in V for Vendetta does this to Creedy at the end of his final battle, strangling him. Played slightly more realistically than most examples, though, because even with his great strength he needs both hands, and leans against a gate to keep his balance.

The creature from Jeepers Creepers does a Neck Lift to the crazy cat ladyfrom behind, and walks forward with its victim held in front of itself like a shield, still gasping out a death-rattle.

Judge Dredd. The ABC robot does it to Judge Hershey. Rico threatens to have the robot break her neck and rip her arms and legs off, but eventually orders it to let her go.

The Shadow: The title character does this to Farley Claymore after tricking him into running out of bullets and driving him insane.

In Bullet Proof Monk, Strucker becomes young and superhumanly strong after reading the Scroll and then holds Kar by the neck off the roof. Kar proceeds to punch him in the head and then catches himself by his toes.

When Jerry confronts Charley in his room he lifts him by the neck, pressing him against a wall and then pushing him partially out a window.

Jerry lifts a big black nightclub bouncer into the air by the neck, then throws him along the floor.

There's a really badly done version in Men in Black II, where villainess Serleena grabs and lifts the pizza shop owner (actually an undercover alien guarding the Light of Zartha) by the chin. Then again, the fact that he turns out to be a hollow skin animated by alien energy might explain that...

Groot essentially does this to one of the punks in prison, except he picks him up by the nostrils! It's painful just to look at.

Ronan picks up Drax by the neck and lifts him in their second confrontation. But he's interrupted by Rocket crashing his fighter at them.

Black Panther: Just after Killmonger is empowered by the Heart-Shaped Herb, he orders the rest of the plants burned. When the caretaker protests that they're a Wakandan treasure that should be preserved for future kings, he brutally grabs her by the neck and tests his newfound Super Strength by lifting her from the floor.

Then with the Collector on Knowhere, at least in the illusion crafted by the Reality Stone.

During the battle on Titan, Thanos grabs Doctor Strange by the neck and holds him up as he tries to take the Time Stone from him.

During the climax, Thanos effortlessly neck-lifts Vision, and uses his free hand to extract the Mind Stone.

X-Men: Apocalypse: The eponymous villain does this to Mystique like in the posters, after she sneaks up on him and slashes his throat.

Scrooged. While Frank Cross is being visited by the ghost of his old boss Lew Hayward, Lew grabs Frank by the throat, lifts him into the air and pushes him through a building window (without breaking it) and letting him fall.

Superman (1978). While Superman and Lex Luthor are in Luthor's underground lair, Superman grabs Lex by his shirt front and lifts him into the air and off the lead-lined box he's sitting on.

Superman II. When the three Kryptonian supervillains break into Perry White's office, Non grabs White by his lapels, lifts him up and rams his head into the ceiling, knocking him out.

In Man of Steel, Faora does this to Martha Kent, and later to Superman himself during a fight, before slamming him into the floor.

Aliens. Ripley does this to the alien queen during their fight using the mechanical arm of the cargo loader she's strapped into.

Wild Wild West. During Jim West's battle with the last of Dr. Loveless' mooks (the one with the metal plate in his head) inside the giant spider robot, the mook grabs him by the neck and lifts him into the air.

The Running Man. During the faked scene where Captain Freedom fights Amber, he lifts her into the air by the neck (we see her feet dangling above the floor) before breaking her neck.

¡Three Amigos!. When Lucky Day swings down into the yard of El Guapo's fortress, El Guapo grabs him by the neck and lifts him into the air.

RoboCop 2. When Cain (in his RoboCop 2 robot body) meets Angie in the warehouse, he grabs her head and performs a Neck Snap, then lifts her off the ground and holds her in the air.

Happens a few times in the Underworld (2003) films. An awesome example in the first film, where Lucian's Number TwoRaze rushes the Vampire Elder Viktor in his Lycan form, only for Viktor to catch him in mid-air with his hand by the throat, hold him a little, and perform a Neck Snap followed by a finishing stab with a silver sword. This is the first we see how truly strong Viktor is, given how normally a fight between a vampire and a transformed Lycan usually results in the Lycan tearing the vampire to shreds.

In the horror movie Alone in the Dark (1982), a huge guy holds up a teen aged girl by the neck with one arm. This was completely real with no wires or special effects used.

In the opening of Final Exam, two lovers in a car are approached by the killer, and try to drive away. The killer then proceeds to make hole in the car's roof, grabs the driver by the throat, drags him outside and stabs him to death.

The Prowler corners Miles on top of a roof and dangles him over the edge.

Doc Ock to Peter B. Parker twice. The first time, she grabs him and then throws him hard enough to break the chair he's strapped into.

Literature

Bud White does this to a prisoner in the "Bloody Christmas" part of L.A. Confidential. In a subversion, he does get kicked in the balls.

In Ender's Game, when Ender is in a life or death fight, he lets himself get into a hold like this, then feints towards a Groin Attack before headbutting his oppressor. The headbutt kills the guy.

In the Warhammer 40,000 novel Dark Adeptus, the Chaos Marine Urkrathos does this to Rear Admiral Horstgeld, and explicitly encircles the victim's neck with his massive armoured fingers. Duke Venalitor from Hammer of Daemons also does this to Alaric, though it's not mentioned if he encircles Alaric's neck.

Captain Plugg in the book Triss regularly picks up his minions by the neck and beats their heads together. Since he's a fox and most of his crew are rats and weasels, he's likely to be significantly bigger and stronger than they are, so it's not as unlikely as usual with this trope that he could easily do this.

At the end of Martin the Warror, Martin's love interest, Rose, is effortlessly lifted and fatally slammed against a wall by the Big Bad. Again justified in that the lifter is a stoat and the liftee is a mouse.

Heroic example, in that badgers are occasionally known to do this when they get into fights with their enemies. At least in this example, the vast difference in size and strength is fully justified.

In War of the Spider Queen the half-demon Blood Knight does this to a dark elf prisoner. Justified in that he is eight feet tall and insanely strong and she is barely five feet tall.

Referenced in the short story "Labyrinth"; when undersized, scrawny, brittle-boned Admiral Miles Naismith regrets his inability to do this (and briefly contemplates ordering one of the troopers nearby to do so on his behalf) as he confronted the man who almost manipulated him into murdering a teenage girl.

In "Winterfair Gifts", set several years later, Taura notes that she does this on bodyguard duty when loomingnote She is an eight foot tall Super Soldier.... and smilingnote ... with fangs fail to make people back down.

Lara Raith does this to her cousin Madeline in Turn Coat, saving Harry from being drained in the process. She then disembowels and devours her.

Live-Action TV

The Vampire Diaries uses this when Katherine holds Caroline against a wall in "Masquerade". Classic cut to Caroline's feet dangling in mid air with cute booties. Klaus and Damon are fond of this trope too.

True Blood really, really loves this trope. Vampires (and in one instant, a maenad) use it to demonstrate their strength. When they do it to each other, the strongest vampire always comes out on top. For extra effect, sometimes a younger (weaker) vampire does it to an older one, who then immediately flips the situation around and does the same thing to their attacker. Out of all vampires who do this, Eric Northman loves it best.

Jessica Sanders grabs her father by the throat, picks him up and slams him against a wardrobe. Particularly ridiculous example (at least before the slam,) since, regardless of strength, she was considerably lighter than him.

Angela sees Knox holding up Claire, and tearing her head off, in one of her dreams.

Sylar picks up Jackie Wilcox by the neck before murdering her in Season One and again with Ando in Isaac's Loft, which turns into a telekinetic Neck Lift when Sylar gets distracted and stops in place while walking forward and carrying Ando by the neck. In the volume 3 finale, he does this to Claire.

Casey also likes to use this on Chuck occasionally. He also did it to a traitorous old mentor once... although he followed it up by crushing his throat.

In the same episode with the traitorous mentor, Chuck performs this on a mook. He was hopped up on Laudanol (a fictional drug which suppresses emotions) and was horrified when he realized exactly what he was doing. He later does a much less extreme version to Shaw in the season three finale (he's got the grip, but Shaw remains on his feet, albeit bent over backwards and hanging on Chuck's arm). This time he's fully aware of what he's doing, and lets him go, satisfied in having beaten him.

Casey really makes a habit of it, as he does this numerous times throughout the series aside from the aforementioned instance with the old mentor.

Lennier does this to Marcus in an episode of Babylon 5. Minbari are stronger than humans.

In another episode, G'Kar does it to Vir on his way to beating the hell out of Londo.

Repeatedly on Smallville. You're not an evil Kryptonian unless you pull off this stunt. Literally everyone on the main cast gets on the receiving end for at least once. Clark also does it from time to time, but the straightest example is in "Kandor" when he does this to Tess who is hiding clone Jor-El.

A common trick, though most of the time this is usually followed by the Terminator in question crushing its victim's neck.

Cameron does this to Marty to emphatically tell him he must not call home.

Cameron:[lifting Marty up by his collar] If you call your mother, that man knows where to find you. Then he'll kill her. He'll kill you. Sarah Connor:[clearing her throat] Cameron... Cameron:[still holding Marty up]Would you like a bed-time story?

In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Goldar inflicted this on Jason while he was captured and separated from his morpher. A pretty good demonstration that without their powers, the Puny Earthlings really are outclassed by anything besides Putties. Unfortunately, the censors have cracked down on such things and it's been a long time.

Buffy accidentally does this to Cordelia in the first episode of when Cordelia startles her, thus helping to cement Buffy's (total lack of) social standing at her new high school.

Also in the first episode, the Master does this to Darla deliberately after she takes food that wasn't hers to take.

Beautifully turned on its head in the Season 1 finale. The Master lifts Buffy in this way and all seems lost... then she delivers the One-Liner, grabs his neck, and tosses him through the glass roof and onto a broken table leg. Bye-bye Master.

Vamp Willow also does it to Percy in "Doppelgangland".

Done several times by vampires/demons on Angel, and once, in a season 2 episode, by a telekinetic named Bethany.

In addition to the Buffy examples above, this trope appears to be a favorite in every single vampire show ever. Confusingly, it's often used in what appears to be an attempt to choke the (un)life out of another vampire. Sometimes a justified trope when the one doing the lifting is just using it to intimidate and/or silence the other vampire. Even the undead need to be able to move air through their throats to talk...

A lot of vampire media seems to forget that, actually. Such as in the season 1 finale of Buffy, where Angel says (using his lungs to push air out of his mouth) he can't perform CPR because he doesn't breathe. If anything, a vampire should be BETTER at CPR given their enhanced strength and the fact that any air they push out should have more oxygen than a regular persons (since the vamp didn't use any).

In Moonlight, Mick St. John frequently follows this up with a Neck Snap. (Is it any wonder that Benjamin Talbot is investigating him?)

In a particularly notable example on Forever Knight, Nick does this to the perp of the week, suspending him out of an Nth story window.

In the Stargate SG-1 episode "Demons", when confronted with the Goa'uld in a Unas host that passes himself as Satan's demon, Colonel O'Neill taunts him with his usual snark, but he's quickly shut up with a one-handed Neck Lift by the ultra-strong alien.

In the Stargate Atlantis season 3 opener, "No Man's Land", Major Lorne discovers the hard way that the Wraith-to-human retrovirus doesn't work on females when a Wraith Queen catch him in a Neck Lift. She's killed before she can feed on him, though.

Bernard and Fran do this to Manny in Black Books (one hand each) when they find out Manny's parents are coming to visit.

In an episode of The X-Files, a shapeshifting alien pretending to be Mulder does this to Scully.

In Continuum Travis does this to a woman before choking her. He is quite bigger than her and as a Super Soldier he is extremely strong.

The demons of Supernatural are fond of this. Notably, Azazel to Dean in a drug-induced vision and Alastair lifting up Dean and placing him on his own torture rack while berating Dean on the sloppy job he did on Alastair.

In Once Upon a Time season 2, Dr. Archie Hopper gets caught in a Neck Lift from Regina or rather, Cora disguised as her daughter, before killing him in appearance.

Pilot does this one-limbedly to Aeryn during a particularly nasty argument in an episode of Farscape. Justified since he's a giant crustacean many times her size.

In Lost In Oz, Loriellidere grabs Selena by the neck and throws her into a wall.

The Hound in Game of Thrones does this to one of the guys who attempted to rape Sansa during a riot before disemboweling him with his dagger.

The Chokeslam (lifting your opponent by their neck then slamming them to the mat) used by big, powerful wrestlers such as The Undertaker, Kane, and The Big Show. The way the chokeslam actually works is (like most pro wrestling moves) with the person on the receiving end doing a good bit of the work; they jump up to aid the move. They're also very rarely held in the air for any amount of time, just long enough to get them to the highest point before bringing them down. Often the illusion of holding them for a longer time is presented by having the recipient struggle helplessly for several seconds while their feet are actually still on the ground (the extent of their "resistance" being to grab ahold of the assailant's arm and pretend they're trying to pull it away from their neck), despite the fact that realistically they would be able to fight back just fine. Typically the wrestler delivering the move will have the other hand on the victim's rear end or hip to actively help the jump by pushing upwards, unless he's doing it to two guys at the same time. Because of the way it is done, chokeslams are among the safer moves in professional wrestling, but like pretty much every move, they can still cause concussions and paralysis among other injuries if someone does not know what they are doing, as a Wrestlecrap writer found out the hard way. Do Not Try This at Home.

The Amazing Impact is a chokeslam grabbing the back of the neck. The most known user in North America is Matt Morgan, who throws people into the turnbuckle with it.

Some wrestlers will use a two armed hanging neck lift as a submission hold, although these days it is usually used as a transition to another move, like a chokebomb or a two-handed chokeslam.

Prior to the popularity of the chokeslam, many wrestlers were known to simply lift their opponents up by the neck and shake them about, usually as a power move. Both faces and heels used this move. This was a textbook move for Hulk Hogan, who was known to use this move multiple times on Randy Savage (during matches) and on manager Bobby Heenan (when Heenan attempted to interfere in his matches); Hogan also used this many times in his heel days back in the early 1980s as a power move, with then WWF Champion Bob Backlund a frequent victim in addition to the long line of jobbers.

A more-realistic variation of the Chokeslam is the Chokehold STO, which works via leverage and momentum instead of lifting. Some Real Life police have even used something similar as one of their last-resort maneuvers against overly hostile suspects.

Roleplay

In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Daigo's enhanced strength as a vampire allows him to effortlessly lift his high school teacher by the neck when said teacher calls him out for swearing. This terrifies the teacher enough that he doesn't follow after Daigo when the vampire storms out the room.

Tabletop Games

Dungeons & Dragons: The 3.5E supplement Complete Scoundrel shows a Gray Guard named Ambros Brasmere doing this to a necromancer.

Pathfinder: In Curse of the Crimson Throne Ileosa does this to Marcus Endrin, before killing him with his own crossbow bolt.

Theatre

In Abraham's Bosom: Abe does this when his son Douglass, who has turned out to be a wastrel and a bitter disappointment to Abe, shows up at the family cabin.

In Pokémon Live!, Giovanni grabs Ash by the chin/neck, lifts his head and shoves him away; it'd probably be closer to an actual neck lift if they weren't the same height.

Video Games

In Asura's Wrath the title character's first journey to hell starts with one of these.

Spidey grabs mooks like this in Spider-Man 2: The Video Game. From there on, he can do a variety of things to the helpless dude.

One of Ganondorf's special moves in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a superpowered version of the chokeslam mentioned above. Only he grabs and lifts his victim by their face instead. Ouch.

He also did this to Tetra and later Link (although he hauled Link up by the arm) in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Considering that Tetra and Link are both children and Ganon is about twice the size of most adult characters in the game, it's not so far-fetched.

In Mass Effect 3, letting the quarians exterminate the geth means Legion will do this to Shepard. The result? A knife in the back from Tali. Both of these examples are justified; the first is performed by a cyborg (who is also noticeably bigger and heavier than Shepard,) and the latter by a robot, so they would both have the necessary strength to do this.

In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Zelgius does this to Valtome when he speaks ill of Sephiran, and threatens to go one step further if he continues.

In The Force Unleashed, Galen lifts a human captain into the air with the force, in an obvious Shout-Out to the moment aboard the Tantive IV. Except the captain squeals, and Galen does a Neck Snap on him.

Resident Damsel Ashley Graham recieves this in her chapter 3-4 by a common Mook. Failure to get out before health runs out results in a Neck Snap.

Mr. X frequently does this in the Resident Evil 2 Remake. One of his attacks involves grabbing the character and holding them up, requiring the usage of a defense item to escape his grasp. If the player fails to escape, the Tyrant crushes their skull by smashing them into a nearby wall. In two separate cutscenes, Leon is attacked this way by the Tyrant and barely escapes with his life.

Some enemies in Iji can do that before electrocuting their victims. It's a One-Hit Kill for anyone other than Iji herself. That includes Dan, so choose carefully where you put your Trapmine!

This is how Alex Mercer holds his victims. Hilariously, some of the NPC comments while being held include reminders that their foot is now level with your crotch. Sadly, they don't follow through on this.

The final boss turns the tables and does this to Mercer, before launching him across an aircraft carrier and revealing his true form.

With the popularity of professional wrestling, this makes its way into many Fighting Games too. Especially if one character is just really strong.

Kuma from the Tekken games is happy to chokeslam you if you he can get to your side, but King (the actual wrestler) has to settle for more mundane manoeuvre. The Jack series robots can do a Neck Lift before delivering an over-the-shoulder chokeslam, unleash a barrage of pneumatic punches, or send you flying with a Megaton Punch.

Thunder Hawk uses a variant for his Storm Hammer; his animation shows him grabbing the opponent by his face, twirling his arm to wind up while in the air, then slamming him down. Something had to step up to meet the Spinning Piledriver. Another hold he's used is to just lift and choke. Note that he's considered taller than Mighty GlacierHusky Russkie Zangief.

Also in The King of Fighters it is utilized by countless characters. Rugal, Goenitz, Magaki, both Zeros and Saiki to name a few. Taken Up to Eleven by Ryuji Yamazaki, as seen here(from the 2.25 mark).

In the SoulCalibur series, Astaroth is fond of doing this in many of his grapples. In one, he actually grabs his opponent by the face and lifts them off the floor one-handed before squeezing their head.

In most of the 'Mortal Kombat' games, Jax can do this. He then follows up on the neck grab with as many as five punches to the face. This move is one of the few that does more damage than the iconic MK uppercut (before they nerfed the uppercut).

In the last fight in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Kung Lao attempts to attack Shao Kahn with his bladed hat. Kahn catches him in midair by the neck, holding him there for a few seconds, and then tosses him away.

In his most famous Fatality, Sub-Zero does this to the opponent... except the only thing below the neck he lifts is the opponent's spine.

Kibagami Genjuro in Samurai Shodown II uses what looks like a chokeslam as his throw.

In Guilty Gear Xrd, Raven's Instant Kill is an Up to Eleven version of this. As he lifts up his opponent, his eye sockets turn a terrifying, glowing red and the flames proceed to swirl up into a twister and incinerate him and the opponent alive.

Another World has the protagonist Lester being lifted into the air by the neck (or the collar) by one of the titular world's evil aliens. His only way out of the predicament is to kick the alien in the nuts then shoot him when it lets go.

Ripa 'Moramee, the brutish, hulking Arbiter from Halo Wars, seems to be fond of doing this. It ends up leaving him open to getting knifed.

The OVA included in Maverick Hunter X has Sigma do this twice (sorta). The first time, he lifts Zero by the head, though Zero also has a hold on Sigma's other arm. The second time, Sigma does a pure neck lift to X.

A reoccurring element in Legacy of Kain games. In the original Blood Omen, Kain does this to a servant during a cut scene. In Soul Reaver 2, Kain does this to Raziel during the opening cinematic. In Blood Omen 2, this is one of Kain's standard moves, and from the neck lift he can do a neck snap, smash their face in with the hilt of his weapon, administer a Groin Attack with a blunt or hacking weapon, impale the target with a piercing weapon, or throw the target about thirty feet. It returns in Defiance, only this time he's doing it with his mind.

Strongest attack of the summon Efreet in Tales of Symphonia during the fight against him to test your worthiness, where he'll grab one member of the party in his fist, lift them up and concentrate fiery explosions on said character.

The cutscene in Palmacosta introduces us to the Desian Lord Magnius. While the Desians are making a display of an execution, an innocent bystander makes the mistake of leaving out his title — complete with Neck Snap.

Tales of Destiny: Barbatos Goetia uses one of these for his Death Abyss arte and at the start of his "No Items Ever!" mystic arte. He follows up by throwing the victim to the ground in both cases, where they're subjected to more abuse.

Terra-Xehanort does this to Aqua in the pre-final battle cutscene in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Or at least it's supposed to be her neck; the actual animation makes it look like he's grabbing and hoisting her by her breasts. Perhaps he's meant to be holding her specifically by the straps across her chest, playing with the trope a little.

In Batman: Arkham Origins, not only does Batman still use it, but Bane does it to him during the final boss fight.

In Diablo III, if you get caught in Diablo's Bone Prison attack during the final showdown, he will do this to you and drain your health before slamming you to the floor with authority.

In Saints Row 2, the leader of the Brotherhood gang tosses his empty minigun at the protagonist and slaps the gun out of their hand, then performs this move on them, during a cutscene fight. He then delivers a couple of mean gutpunches and brings you down onto the roof, slamming you by the shoulders a few times before that section of the roof collapses and you're both sent tumbling down.

In Dark Souls, one of Gwyn's attacks has him grab the player by the neck, holds them up in the air and then creating an explosion that blows them away fro him.

Bioshock Infinite. Booker can do this to human opponents with the Skyhook device. The game sometimes has him do a Neck Snap with the Skyhook to kill them.

In one of her most badass moments from the Dawnguard DLC of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Serana does this to Arch-Curate Vyrthur after learning that he is behind the prophecy that has torn her family apart.

Jax's ending in Mortal Kombat 4 features him getting revenge on Jarek whom had just killed Sonya by grabbing and hoisting him up by his neck and then dropping him off a cliff.

In Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Captain Titus shows off his vaunted Space Marine strength by giving muscular Orks a big one-handed chokeslam... before crushing their skulls under his boot.

Syphile in Drowtales gets physically lifted off the ground by Quain'tana after a particularly ill-advised decision, and the fact that Quain has about a foot of height on her helps. Quain even seems to considering just choking her right then and there, but lets her down with a warning that the next time Syphile disappoints her will be her last.

Captain Hammer uses a slightly more practical version on Dr. Horrible at the end of the first act of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, grabbing the Doctor by the neck without lifting him off the ground.

Atop the Fourth Wall: Mechakara is fond of doing this to Linkara, notably in the Power Ranger Zeo review. He won't stop here, though, and follow up with a brutal beatdown.

Western Animation

Danny Phantom, the show, seems to like this one. Danny Phantom, the character, is understandably less fond. Throughout most of the show, this trope is almost Once per Episode. It's only subverted by the fact that a Neck Lift is a lot less effective if the person being grabbed can shoot lasers out of their eyes or occasionally freeze the attacker solid. Still don't work on Vlad, though.

In Justice League, Divided We Fall, Superman does this to Lex Luthor when Flash apparently died stopping Brainiac/Luthor.

Kaeloo: Bad Kaeloo does this to Mr. Cat a lot. Usually, she follows up by choking him.

The Legend of Korra; in Season 4, Kuvira uses Metalbending to wrap Varrick's shoulder pads around his neck and dangle him out of a speeding train when he tries to shut down his spirit vine experiments.

The Transformers: In Webworld a pissed-off Galvatron did this to a therapist after breaking free of the goop pinning him to the Freudian Couch. He also does it to Scourge in "The Burden Hardest To Bear".

The Transformers Megatron has been known to do this on occasion to Starscream, including during the 3 part Season 1 episode "The Ultimate Doom", one-handed, with Starscream attempting to pry his grip off with both hands in vain.

In Transformers Animated, Blackarachnia does this to Optimus Prime after downloading Bulkhead's strength, Megatron does this to both the Constructicons (who are nearly his size) at the same time, and Starscream does this to Bumblebee.

Starscream:[to Bumblebee] YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!

Real Life

Some small mammals will go limp if you do this from behind, grasping them by the loose skin there, as it taps into their infantile reflexes from being carried by their mothers. Don't carry grown cats by their necks alone, though; they can get hurt that way. And if that warning alone isn't enough to heed the advice, picking up a grown cat by the neck also doesn't tend to make them go limp, either, and you can also get hurt that way. Typically gorgeous Ragdolls are very likely an exception; but then, Ragdolls usually go limp when you pick them up anyway.

Not bare-handed, but a catchpole-assisted Neck Lift is one way for animal-control workers to restrain aggressive cats without being clawed to ribbons. Not recommended for more than a few seconds, due to the risk of strangulation or neck injury, but often unavoidable if the cat must be retrieved from a confined and/or precarious space that humans can't enter.

Leopards often hold their kills by the neck when they lift them to drag them up a tree.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler in his younger days. When he moved to Salem, Illinois in 1831, a local named Jack Armstrong challenged him to a match as a sort of initiation. Lincoln was said to have "grabbed the bully by the neck, held him at arm's length, and shook him like a little boy." After the fight, the two became lifelong friends.

The Pine Tar Game: George Brett was found to have too much pine tar on his bat which nullified his game-winning home run. He then had to be grabbed from around the neck to be kept from attacking umpire Tim McClelland.

When Jonathan Papelbon played for the Washington Nationals, he lunged at team Bryce Harper's throat during a dugout fight towards the end of the 2015 season.

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